Methane is a primary component of natural gas. Although natural gas can be useful as a fuel, natural gas sources can be remote, and often, it is not cost effective to transport the methane. One method of transporting natural gas is by liquefying the gas, however, the boiling point of methane is low enough that liquefaction can be difficult and expensive. Research has been conducted to find new and cost-effective ways of utilizing this resource.
One possible solution is to convert methane to higher hydrocarbons such as ethane or ethylene. Ethylene and higher hydrocarbons can be more easily liquefied and transported from remote sites and can also be valuable products. Ethylene, for one, can be a valuable product, as it can be used for the production of styrene, and has many other uses, such as the production of polyethylene, ethanol, ethylene glycol, and polyvinyl chloride.
Traditionally, ethylene is obtained predominantly from the thermal cracking of hydrocarbons, such as ethane, propane, butane, or naphtha. Ethylene can also be produced and recovered from various refinery processes. Ethylene from these sources can also include a variety of undesired products, including diolefins and acetylene, which can be costly to separate from the ethylene. Separation methods can include, for example, extractive distillation and selective hydrogenation of the acetylene back to ethylene. Thermal cracking and separation technologies for the production of relatively pure ethylene can result in significant production costs. Thus, the production of ethylene from methane rather than by some of the traditional routes could decrease ethylene production costs.